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176 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON HELIODILUS SOUMAGNII. [Feb. 18, In external appearance Heliodilus is very similar to Strix, has the toes almost, perfectly bare, without any of the hairs which are found on the feet of a Barn-Owl. A more important difference is exhibited in the shape of the wings in the two genera, which may he thus diagnosed :- a. Wings very long, surpassing the end of the tail Strix. b. Wings shorter and much more concave, falling short of the tail by as much as the length of the outer toe and claw Heliodilus, The following is a description of the specimen in the British :- Genus HELIODILUS. Heliodilus, Alph. Milne-Edwards, C. R. 1877, Type. (Dec.) H. soumagnii. Range. Confined to Madagascar. HELIODILUS SOUMAGNII. Heliodilus soumagnii, Grandid. Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris (7), ii. p. 66; id. C. R. 1877 (Dec. 31). Adult. General colour above bright cinnamon-rufous, slightly varied with scantily distributed blackish spots, very small, of an arrow-head shape, and varying in number from two to five, the sub-terminal one alone being distinct ; head and mantle a little more closely spotted than the rest of the upper surface, with the exception of the inner greater coverts and inner secondaries; wings cinnamon-rufous, with faintly indicated black bars on some of the greater coverts, the quills are regularly banded with black on their inner webs ; tail light cinnamon-rufous, crossed with narrow and incom­plete black bars, of which six can be noted, without including a tri­angular black spot near the end of the tail; a complete ruff of deep-cinnamon feathers, with buffy-white bases to the feathers; facial disk deep vinaceous, lighter on the lower margin, where the feathers are fulvescent on their bases ; entire under surface of body light cin­namon, uniform, with the exception of small dusky spots en the fore neck and chest, with here and there a spot on the flanks and and under wing-coverts, which are deep cinnamon ; quills pale cin­namon below, with bars of black on the inner webs ; leg-feathers deep cinnamon-rufous, extending down the entire hind leg, and be­coming more and more scanty on the fore part of the tarsus just above the toes; bill ivory white, the lower mandible yellower. Total length 12*8 inches, culmen 1*45, wing 8*5, tail 4*1, tarsus 21. Hab. Neighbourhood of Antananarivo and Tamatave (Mus.Paris), Madagascar.